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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
May 20, 2002
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report for May 13-19
Captain George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR MAY 13-19, 2002
WEATHER: Windy evenings and calm mornings have been the norm for the past week. We
had a slight worry on Tuesday as some kind of front passed through and the wind blew all day
but that was the only exception to the predictability of the wind. Blowing at 12-18 knots it has
been enough to get the dust stirred up. Our temperatures during the days have been very warm
with the thermometer outside my kitchen registering a steady mid-day high in the high 90’s all
week and the nighttime lows have been in the high 70’s. We have had slightly cloudy skies that
have presented some wonderful sunsets this week. (A Voice Of Change)
WATER: Surface conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape have been very good every day in
the morning time with the exception of Tuesday when the frontal system that moved through
caused the water to become very rough. Steady seas at 2-4 feet with afternoon chop. The Sea of
Cortez has been calm with a slight wind chop in the afternoons. Surface temperatures on the
Pacific have been in the high to mid 60’s from Cabo to the San Jaime Banks and low to mid 70’s
on the banks themselves, and the same conditions have been present on the Golden Gate Banks.
On the Sea of Cortez side we have had water ranging from 75-80 degrees from the shore out to 5
miles from the Cape up to Gorda Banks. Outside of that has been a band of water in the 72-73
degree range about three miles wide running across the 95 and 1150 spots. (Stewball)
BAIT: Most of the bait this week has been Mackerel and it has been the usual $2 per bait. There
have been a few Caballito mixed in but the preferred bait is Mackerel anyway so that is good
news. I have no word on the Sardinas. (Two Hangmen)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The warming water is bringing in some Blue Marlin and I have good reports of some
nice sized fish being hooked up this week, a few in the 400-500 pound range. These fish have
been found on the Sea of Cortez side out side the Gorda Banks and have struck lures. There have
been plenty of Striped Marlin around also, as long as you were in the right place. That seems to
have been south of the Cape and a bit to the east, about 12-18 miles out. There have been some
outside the 1150 and 95 spots also and if you were in the right place at the right time a double
header was not uncommon. Of course not everyone caught Marlin, some of the boat
concentrated on Dorado or looked for Wahoo. The Striped Marlin seemed to have a preference
for lures early in the week and that shifted to live bait as the week progressed past the new moon.
of Sunday. (Buffalo)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Not a lot has been happening since the Purse Seiners wrapped up the San
Jaime Banks fish. There have been a few fish caught there since, but it has been so slow that most
of the boats are giving it a miss. A few more fish have been found with the occasional passing
pod of Porpoise to the south, but they have been smaller, football fish. Best luck on them has
been feathers in bright yellow or green. Very few fish have been caught at Gorda Banks
according to the word I have gotten from the boats working there but a few are hooked every day
when drifting with live bait. (Hard Luck Woman)
DORADO: Finding something floating has been the key to good catches of Dorado this past
week and it happened several days. As normal, the first one on the spot does really well and the
later boats find the action a bit slower but everyone get a fish or two. This week the action was
on mats of kelp that had been drifting long enough to hold massive schools under them. Nice
sized fish too, most of them 20-30 pounds and they bit well on live bait. 13 miles to 18 miles to
the southeast seemed to be the area for most of the action on almost everything this week.
Occasional fish were found blind trolling and they sometimes had a friend follow them to the boat
that could be caught on a pitch bait. (Flying Arrow)
WAHOO: Those mats of kelp kicked out some nice Wahoo in the 30-40 pound class for the first
boats at the scene! A lot of fish were lost as the Wahoo bit off the live bait presented on mono
leaders but as soon as that happened the boats in the know worked a while with wire. It did not
mean fewer Dorado hookups since there were so many fish there, but it did mean that the Wahoo
didn’t get away. The 95 spot also was fairly steady for a few fish every day, not for each boat of
course! Even though the Yellowfin had disappeared from the San Jaime, there were still Wahoo
there and they were fooled by Magnum Rapallas in hot pink and Marauders in Purple/Black or hot
pink. Many were also lost on lures rigged with mono leader pulled for the Tuna. There were
other fish caught in scattered areas but everything seemed to be associated with some sort of
structure, very few were caught in the blind. (Good Friend of Mary’s)
INSHORE: A few Sierra are still being caught on the Pacific side but the bite has dropped off
elsewhere. There have been plenty of Skipjack and Bonito to keep the light tackle enthusiasts
busy. Roosterfish are starting to show themselves on a regular basis and the sizes are starting to
increase as well, most of them are now in the 10 pound+ range. The best action on them has been
on the Sea Of Cortez side off the Chileno area and northward. Many of the boats are bottom
fishing now and there has been steady action on Triggerfish with Amberjack and Grouper tossed
into the mix as well. Most of the bottom fishing action has occurred on the Sea of Cortez side as
the waters have been perfect for bottom fishing. (Melinda)
NOTES: It looks as if we are seeing a return to summertime conditions, both weather wise and
fishing wise. That is good news for everyone. I think the Blue Marlin action is going to heat up
soon so keep your fingers crossed. When you come to Cabo this year to fish, PLEASE ask your
crew to release any Billfish you catch. Take a picture of the fish along the side of the boat and let
it go. Sometimes it takes a little while for the fish to revive but if the crew is any good and wants
to get a tip....well, let them know up front that is what you expect. Keep it simple, release them
all, even if you are told they are not going to survive they have a better chance in the water than
they do in the boat. The captains and crew here are not poor and don’t need the fish to feed their
families with, they need the fish in the water to catch again and ensure their jobs for the future. If
the fish has actually died during the fight then it can be returned to the food chain. You don’t
have to kill the fish to have a mount done! No one uses actual parts of the fish anymore for
mounts, don’t let the crews tell you otherwise. OK, off the soapbox. This weeks report was
written to the sounds of one of my favorite groups, and if you are a fan of country
rock/folk/banjo/steel guitar music then you deserve to check them out. For the second time now I
have listed the group “Mason Proffit” and their album “Come & Gone”. Written by John and
Terry Talbot, the cuts listed are some of my favorites but I need to add two more, “He Loves
Them” and “Everybody Was Wrong”. This CD was produced by Linea Records of Western
Germany, the albums are hard to find in good condition. Originally written and produced on vinyl
in 1973, this CD was issued in 1990.
"Fly Hooker" Daily Reports for May 13-19
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 13 MAY, 2002
Our friends Richard and Kathy Sullivan are back in town for vacation and they are traveling
with another couple, from Kansa City, James and Sue Bhand. Kathy decided to spend today by
the pool relaxing but everyone else is fishing today. Kathy is going to join the group on the next
trip on Thursday. We met at the boat this morning at 6:15 and off we went. Juan and Riko
decided to head southeast and the water was beautiful! At about the seven mile distance we
slowed down to trolling speed, prior to that I ran a high speed lure, fingers crossed! Not more
than 10 minutes after putting out the trolling lures we had a strike and saw that it was a Dorado.
Sue’s fish! She got into the chair and it did not take her long to get our first flag fish to the boat,
one about 15-20 pounds. As we continued on Richard expressed his happiness at getting a
Dorado, that and a Wahoo were the targets for this trip. A little while later he told James that we
would have another fish on in 17 minutes. 15 minutes after that we had a triple strike! Both
outriggers went down and the flat line took off! I thought it might be Tuna since there were no
jumping fish behind us but after about 5 minutes we were all thinking “Wahoo”! One fish got off
but both James and Richard had a good time fighting the other fish to the boat. First one in was
James fish. I leadered and Riko gaffed a very nice 45 pound Wahoo and into the box it went.
Richards came to the boat and it was another fish about the same size. Talk about happy! Of
course, after that Richard became our fish prognosticator and we kept asking him when the next
one was going to hit. Another half hour of trolling took place when Juan called down to us and
wanted to know if we wanted to catch some more Dorado. Good question and the answer was
yes. We reeled in the lines and Juan ran for about 5 miles. At the new spot there were about a
dozen boats and as we got closer we could see that almost every one of them had Dorado hooked
up. Looking closer we soon saw the reason, there was a patch of kelp floating there, almost as
big as the “Fly Hooker”. Juan got us in close and we got out the light gear and rigged up with
live baits. The first three fish broke off and Riko said they were probably Wahoo. That was all it
took to get me to break out the spinning gear and put on a Tandy iron with a bite leader. I tried
yo-yo’ing as Juan and Riko got everyone else hooked up with these nice Dorado. We ended up
with three more fish, all in the 25-30 pound range before we only had one live bait left. The last
few had been cut into chunks to make the action last. We decided we had enough Dorado action
and with only one live bait left we should save it in case we got a chance at a Marlin. We trolled
for another 4 hours with no action except the beer flowing and getting sunburned. Everyone was
in awe after watching Riko fillet the fish, specially after first watching Richard attempt to fillet a
Dorado. Richard, Riko has been doing that since he was about 8 years old! Back at the dock
there was a cooler of fillets needing to be frozen and some good stories to tell. Looking forward
to Thursday and the hunt for a Marlin!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 16 MAY, 2002
Today Kathy joins her husband Richard and their friends James and Sue on the boat for a day
of Marlin hunting. Our friend Sandi, the manager at “Viva Cabo” hotel is joining us today as well.
On Monday we had fullfilled Richards request of eating fish to take home with 4 Dorado and two
Wahoo so today we are going to try and get a Marlin for him. Whatever happens, Kathy is the
first angler up since she has not caught a fish on this trip yet. The water was a bit rougher today
than it was on Monday and the wind was COLD! Everyone was huddled up under the bridge and
out of the wind but no one got sick during the trip. We went to the same area as last time to start
off with but there was little if any action in that location. A lot of boats and we only saw one
hook-up. As we were watching the lures and looking for tailing Marlin some unidentified (cause
we didn’t get a good look) fish made a big swirl and pass on the short flat line lure. Got everyone
excited! We kept asking Richard when the next fish would hit. At about 9:30 Sandy spotted a
tail and Juan ran the boat in that direction. Juan tossed out a live bait and they kept working the
area as the fish appeared and disappeared again. Our activities attracted other boats and soon
there were three of them working the area around us. We saw the fish a number of time but I
guess he was not hungry and we continued on. At about 11 am we had a strike on the short flat
line. I had replaced the regular Marlin lure with a Marauder plug and at first thought that we had
just gotten bitten by a Wahoo. I came down from the bridge and reset the lure and almost as soon
as I had done so it got hit again. This time I saw the Marlin and tried to set the hook. The fish let
go and the hooks on the lure tangled with the leader. I could see the fish back there and quickly
pinned on a live Mackerel to the bait rod and dropped the bait back. By this time Juan was trying
to pin a bait on the other outfit as a back-up. It was a good thing he did since the fish came in on
the bait I had back there and swatted it. The bait skittered to the surface and the Marlin came up
behind it with the tip of his bill out of the water and his mouth open, trying to get the bait. I
dropped the bait back into his open mouth and the fish went down and turned away. I waited
until the fish had a chance to eat the bait and then tried to set the hook. I must have been early
because I could feel the hook pull loose from the bait and that was it, no mas. A second later the
Marlin re-appeared surfing downswell directly behind the boat about 4 wakes back. Juan dropped
back the other bait and the fish just engulfed it! A few seconds later Juan set the hook and then it
was Kathy’s turn! Since this was her first Marlin I did a lot of coaching with her. I really like
working as a coach with women because they listen and don’t try to get all macho and horse in
the fish. I tell them that it is technique that wins the battle and most of the time it works. It
surely did in this case, although there were a couple of times in there when Kathy was ready for
someone else to take over. This fish did a lot of wonderful things that everyone oohed and ahhed
at, lots of jump and head shaking. Closer to the boat each time it ended a run, eventually Kathy
had it tired enough for Juan to grab the leader and for me to place the tag. A very nice fish at
approximately 130 pounds and Kathy’s biggest fish ever. I sure hope the blisters heal up soon!
That was all the action for us this day and we ended up at the dock at normal time. I felt we had
been fairly lucky as many boats today had come in with no flags. Good thing we had caught all
the Dorado and Wahoo on Monday! Thanks for everything everyone, and we are looking
forward to a visit with Richard and Kathy in Florida this year!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 18 MAY, 2002
Alan Sansano is a repeat client and he has booked us for two days of fishing. Today he is
fishing with his friend Chris and on Monday another friend, the groom for the batchelor party
might fish also. The water today was still a bit choppy and Juan headed out toward the Pacific
side to begin with. Early in the trip the spotted a tailing Marlin and tossed bait to it but there was
no response from the fish other than an initial show of interest. Working their way back toward
the Sea of Cortez side they had strikes from Dorado but most of them failed to hook up. One out
of five did though and since it was the first fish (and he saw it was a Dorado), Alan let Chris have
the honors. A few minutes later the dinner was in the box. Later on n the day and almost
southeast of the cape another Marlin was spotted and this time it was hungry! Alan got to fight
this Marlin and a tag was placed in the fish after a 25 minute fight. A nice fish at 140 pounds it
gave quite an account of itself. That was all the action for the day and we will keep our fingers
crossed that the action picks up a bit for Monday!
Until Next Week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan, Manuel and Juan 2, the “Fly Hooker”
Crew
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